Joel Whitford (born 1 July 1993) is an Australian former professional

Canadian football Canadian football, or simply football, is a Sports in Canada, sport in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete on a field long and wide, attempting to advance a Ball (gridiron football), pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposi ...

punter.

College career

Whitford played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the Santa Barbara City College Vaqueros in 2015. After sitting out the 2016 season, he joined the

Washington Huskies The Washington Huskies are the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Washington, located in Seattle. The school competes at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) N ...

and played for the team from 2017 to 2019.

Professional career

Hamilton Tiger-Cats

Whitford was drafted in the first round, eighth overall by the

Hamilton Tiger-Cats The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are a professional Canadian football team based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. They are currently members of the East Division (CFL), East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The Tiger-Cats play their home game ...

in the

2021 CFL Global Draft The 2021 CFL global draft took place on April 15, 2021 and was the first CFL draft that pooled all of the global players together after previously having separate drafts for Mexican players and European players in 2019. 36 players were chosen f ...

and signed with the team on 28 April 2021. Following

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

training camp, he won the job as the team's punter and played in his first career professional game on 5 August 2021, against the

Winnipeg Blue Bombers The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a professional Canadian football team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Blue Bombers compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division (CFL), West division. They play thei ...

. He played in 12 regular-season games and had 68 punts with a 45.1-yard average. He began the 2022 season on the practice roster before being released on June 27, 2022.

Montreal Alouettes

On July 8, 2022, Whitford signed with the

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (Canadian French, French: ''Les Alouettes de Montréal'') are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has disbanded twice and been re-established thrice. The Alouettes compe ...

. On November 14, 2022, Whitford was released by the Alouettes.

References

External links

Montreal Alouettes bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitford, Joel 1993 births Living people American football punters Australian players of American football Australian players of Canadian football Canadian football punters Hamilton Tiger-Cats players Montreal Alouettes players Santa Barbara City Vaqueros football players Sportsmen from Victoria (state) Washington Huskies football players 21st-century Australian sportsmen